UPDATE 1-U.S. April consumer confidence falls to August low

(Adds comments, market reaction)

By John Parry

NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence slipped in April to its lowest since last August, reflecting worries that rising gasoline prices could ignite inflation and crimp economic growth, a report showed on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its index of consumer sentiment fell to 104.0 from an upwardly revised 108.2 in March.

"Rising prices at the gas pump continue to play a key role in dampening consumers' short-term expectations. The decline in the Present Situation Index -- the first decline in six months -- warrants monitoring in the months ahead, as further declines would suggest a softening in growth," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, in a press release.

Consumers' inflation expectations in the survey rose to their highest since August.

Treasury bond prices US10YT=RR rallied soon after the report was released, also reacting to a weak existing home sales report. The dollar .DXY EUR= JPY= slipped and U.S. stock indexes .DJI .SPX .IXIC turned lower.

The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters was for the confidence index to come in at 105.0, down from an originally reported 107.2 in March.

Consumers' assessment of current conditions slipped too. The business research group's present situation index declined to 131.3 in April from 138.5 in March, the first fall in six months. The expectations index declined to 85.8 from 87.9.

Inflation expectations rose to the highest since August: Consumers' expectations for the inflation rate 12 months from now rose to 5.2 percent from 4.9 percent in March.

Views of labor market conditions slipped a little in the survey. Consumers who said jobs were "plentiful" slipped to 27.8 percent from 30.3 percent, while those who said jobs were "hard to get" edged up to 20.4 percent from 18.9 percent.